midnight in paris: the french 75

thirsty thursday
notes from maggie's farm

In this final installment of At the Cinema, our favorite of the Academy's Best Picture nominees, Midnight in Paris, is honored by a classic cocktail, The French 752-4 ounces dry gin1 tsp superfine sugar1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice5 ounces Brut ChampagneMix gin, sugar, and lemon juice together with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker. Strain into a collins glass or flute, half-filled with cracked ice, and top off with champagne.

"In the same family as the various versions of champagne cocktail is the celebrated French 75, an elixir which, if it did not actually have its origin in the first of the German wars, at least came to the general attention of American drinkers at that time and was immediately enshrined in the pharmacopoeia of alcohol artistry in the United States upon the conclusion of hostilities in 1919." - Lucius Beebe, The Stork Club Bar Book

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A beauty of a movie, Midnight in Paris is chockful of everything I so adore: Paris, Jazz, Art, The Lost Generation, and triumph of love over tacky. It's a fantastical tale that plays the delusions of nostalgia against the tensions of reality, lightly, thoughtfully, humorously, and artfully. Bravo, Woody! It's one of your finest.